Day five — the fish market, the fancy mall, and a happy hour at Maluka

Day five started with a small victory: we slept in. Not dramatically — this isn’t that kind of trip — but enough to feel like a treat. I also nudged the thermostat up another half degree, continuing what has become the central domestic drama of our Panama stay. The A/C and I are locked in a cold war of attrition. I suspect it’s winning.

The morning was overcast, which in Panama feels like a genuine gift. When you’re this close to the equator, the sun doesn’t angle at you — it beats almost directly down from overhead. An overcast sky is the difference between a pleasant morning walk and arriving at your destination looking like you swam there. We took the overcast and were grateful.

Breakfast, and the schoolchildren with a band

Walking to Wendy’s, we passed a school where the children were singing while a band played. One of those unexpectedly lovely Panama moments — the kind of thing you’d walk right past if you took an Uber everywhere. Two Wendy’s breakfast meals came to $14.50. Then Tim Hortons, as always, for two iced French Vanilla coffees each — four coffees total, $15.96. The ritual is now fully established and non-negotiable.

The fish market — better in theory than in practice (for one of us)

We took the Metro to Mercado de Mariscos — Panama City’s famous fish market on the waterfront. In retrospect, this was a mistake in execution if not in concept. The market is several blocks from the nearest Metro stop, and the route goes through a part of the city that is rough around the edges and in genuine need of investment. The sidewalks are uneven. The walk is longer than it looks on a map. And it was hot — even overcast, the humidity was doing its thing.

By the time we pushed through the plastic strip curtains designed to keep the flies out, I had already overheated. I can report that the curtains are doing a reasonable job with the flies, and that the market announces itself clearly and immediately to anyone with a functioning nose. I conducted a brief reconnaissance, confirmed the presence of fish, and retreated to the street to find shade. Kent stayed to document.

Left: the selection inside — fresh, varied, and at prices that would make any restaurant chef very happy. Right: the second floor overview. Don’t miss the outdoor section if you visit — there’s more out there than what you see walking in.

Kent’s assessment of the market, from someone who actually spent time in it: the fish is genuinely fresh, the variety is impressive, the prices are excellent, and if you ran a restaurant in Panama City you would absolutely send someone here every morning. The market has both an indoor and outdoor section — the outdoor area is easy to miss if you don’t know to look for it. Worth seeing the full picture if you visit.

We took an Uber back to the hotel. $5.95. I turned the thermostat down a full degree upon arrival — a rare escalation in our ongoing temperature negotiations. The A/C, I am convinced, is developing a personality.

I have also made a decision: I need to learn Celsius. Five days of adjusting a thermostat without any instinctive feel for what the numbers mean is genuinely disorienting. For anyone coming from the U.S.: 19°C is 66°F, 23°C is 73°F, 27°C is 81°F. I’m committing this to memory so I can stop adjusting the dial and then immediately regretting it.

Multiplaza Pacific — Panama City’s luxury mall

After cooling off and showering — shower number two of the day, which at this point feels like a reasonable baseline — we headed to Multiplaza Pacific, the high-end mall in Panama City.

Multiplaza is large without being overwhelming in the way Albrook Mall is. The two malls serve completely different purposes and different moods. Albrook is where Panama City does its everyday shopping — busy, packed, democratic in its energy. Multiplaza is where Panama City does its aspirational shopping. You’ll find Fendi, Armani, Cartier, Swarovski, Bulgari, Montblanc, Jimmy Choo, Givenchy, Hermès, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo. You get the picture. The atmosphere is serene and beautifully designed — marble floors, good lighting, the particular quiet of a place where the price tags do the talking.

There’s also a DoIt hardware store inside, which grounds the whole experience nicely, and a Riba Smith grocery — the premium supermarket chain we’d already visited. If you need to price out marble countertops and pick up some imported cheese in the same afternoon, Multiplaza has you covered.

The Chinese food disappointment

We ate at one of the Asian fast food counters in the food court. We had been looking forward to this — Panama City has had a large and long-established Chinese population, and we’d spent years in the San Francisco Bay Area where the Chinese food is exceptional. Spicy, complex, layered with flavor. We had real hopes.

The food court version was bland. Not bad — just not what we were hoping for. We’ve since heard that there was once a proper Chinatown near Casco Viejo, but it’s essentially gone now. Only the decorative arches remain as a historical marker of what was there. We’ll keep looking for good Chinese food in Panama City. If anyone reading this has a recommendation, please reach out — we genuinely want to know.

Evening — Maluka, and a Spanish lesson at the bar

The sun had fully set by the time we walked back to the hotel. Five days in and we were tired in the good way — the way that comes from covering a lot of ground, seeing a lot of things, and making mental notes about what fits and what doesn’t. The fish market: send your chef, not yourself. Multiplaza: beautiful, worth a visit, practical too with the hardware store and Riba Smith. Maluka: go back, arrive later, practice your Spanish at the bar.

Day six coming up.

— Brian & Kent